Evaluation- By Marialucia Apicella

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. The chosen genre of our film is drama. We called our film sequence ‘39 weeks’ typically the amount of time a woman is pregnant as Jade is in the film. The genre uses a sub theme of teenage pregnancy, violence and alcoholism. I feel ’39 weeks’ successfully develops into a drama genre. We done this by carefully constructing lighting into our film to show a realism of life. Also the props we used we’re purposely chosen and placed in each scene to show a contrast of what you should not do when you are pregnant for example- smoking.

3. Our main protagonist is shown to be the main character with a variety of close ups and long shots to suggest her importance to the film. The voice over explains her situation and how she had become this violent teen. She has had a hard life and wants to be free of it. We wanted to show an aspect of real life for teenagers In the modern world today. They are not always treated equally or get the love and attention needed from family. In a way we challenged the typical lower class pregnant teen look because the film is set In a middle class home and although she is shown to have a nice room. The audience can see that she has still taken a bad turn in life even though she doesn't typically live in a run down estate as in ‘fish Tank’.

4. In the movie ‘Fish Tank’ there is this shot of a teenage girl doing her make up. We have a similar image in our film clip, which shows similarities between our films and where we have captured some of our ideas from. They also have the same genre of drama. Lots of close ups highlight her importance within the film as we do in ours.

5. Some of the girls in this clip are dressed in a very provocative way this shows their class and how the girls in this neighbourhood have little respect for themselves and the way they look. We get a sense of what the film is about as a fight occurs, we understand she is a troublesome teen.

6. The actress is dressed very casually and her outfit and jewellery shows that she is not very wealthy and comes from a poor life style. Similar to our movie, the main character wears ‘chavvy’ jewellery. The mise en scene shows her surroundings of a run down estate which all contribute to show her lack of sophistication.

7. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

8. The idea of social groups has changed greatly in the recent years. For examples teenagers are typically always presented in the media in a negative way. Whether it is for gang violence, drug addiction, alcohol abuse or pregnancy. Through different ideology's adolescents have become their own social group and are shown in society as a bad influence. This image is taken from Adulthood Directed by Noel Clarke, this shows violence throughout the film and suggests that this is how many teenagers live their lives. Our film clip challenges this as we only see the violence from a young girls point of view. However this film is shown from a male perspective which is why our movies have differences in attitudes towards violence.

9. Our media product represents adolescents firstly in a stereotypical way however Jades voice over explains her wrong turns therefore how she would like to make her life better and this contrasts between the medias perception of this particular social group. We show that not all teens are addicted to drugs, drinking alcohol and involved in gangs. Our sequence challenges this to show how Jade is trying to make her life better. This image was taken off Google. We used our protagonist to suggest a violent crime, for example- Jade has a black eye in the opening shot. This shows a reflection of how teens are seen in the media. In recent years the amount of knife and gun crime has raised by a high percentage. Therefore our sequence does show some stereotypical elements of today's youths.

10. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

11. Revolver Entertainment A company called Revolver Entertainment distributed films like our ‘39 weeks’ such as Kidulthood and Adulthood. Similar to our film the characters are all in some kind of trouble and the film follows them through their journey showing personal accounts of each characters emotional state. Through a series of close ups, the protagonists facial expressions show us their clear state of distress. Our film successfully shows this emotional link between right and wrong. In our film with have similar themes of drugs and abuse which is why Revolver Entertainment may distribute our film. It has many factors similar to Kidulthood and Adulthood. Not many films in the UK are successful at showing teenage pregnancy and from a female not male point of view therefore our film would be a new take on adolescent life.

12. BBC films and The UK film council The film ‘Fish Tank’ was directed by Andrea Arnold and distributed by BBC films and the UK film council. The UK film council might distribute our film because it is unusual and I think appeals to our target audience of young adults very well. In a way our film contrasts the typical teen in a run down estate and instead shows a girl who comes from a respectful family just got in to the wrong crowd. It deals with emotional themes which will endure the audience and make the empathise with our characters especially if they are in similar situations. However there are plans to abolish the UK film council therefore they may be selecting fewer films to distribute.

13. Who would be the audience for your media product?

14. Audience Our film ‘39 weeks’ focuses on the sensitive issue of teenage pregnancy therefore we came to the conclusion that the best target audience for our film would be teenagers between the ages of 13-21. As was Kidulthood, Adulthood and Fish Tank. Themes The themes used in our sequence are pregnancy, violence and drug abuse. We chose these themes because this is the way in which teenagers are shown in the media therefore we thought our audience would be intrigued to watch our film as it challenges the stereotypical life styles of a pregnant teenager. We also thought that using a female protagonist will show a different side to teenage crime which over films do not commonly show. They are usually always from a male perspective. We think the audience will be able to relate to our theme well.

15. How did you attract/address your audience?

16. By using Jades narrative, we tried to capture the audiences attention and themes of emotional state which a teenager could easily relate to. Our costumes and attitudes attracted our audience because she is dressed as if she does not have much money however by the state of her room and surroundings we can see that she comes from a middle class family however she has gone off the rails. We contrasted costumes and scenery purposely to show a contradicting situation which happens around the UK commonly. Also the costume is left simple therefore she is not branded in a particular social group and the film will appeal to many different social groups.

17. Music Throughout our sequence we used non-diegetic music in the background of every scene to create an atmosphere of tension. We thought the music was an urban/hip hop sound which gives a young vibe to the film.